13 rocks

YOUTH shone out on the Wonthaggi stage on Saturday night when the 39 strong, energetic, fresh faced cast of 13 burst onto the stage for opening night and wowed the audience with a vibrant rock musical.

Daring to be different Wonthaggi Theatrical Group has staged another musical winner with this millennium babies, coming of age musical treat.

A story about 13 year olds, starring 13 something year olds there was not an adult in sight, quite refreshing really and the talented cast looked like they were all having a ball.

Teenagers may be but every cast member showed a maturity beyond their years, scoring a distinction for their energetic performances, rousing singing and dazzling dance routines.

From the opening title song Thirteen, the young actors warmed up and got better and better as the show progressed.

Simple the story may be of life changing experiences from teenagers to adulthood, 13 relates to everyone, many in the audience reflecting on their own teenage school years, the  hip bad boy meets sweet innocent girl.

13 is based on the book by Dan Elish, with lyrics and music by Jason Robert Brown and tells the tale of Evan, the Jewish New Yorker who moves to small town Indiana just as he’s about to turn 13 years old. He first meets up with geeky friends, only to ditch them for a hip group.

Leongatha’s Adam Turner, 15, a polished performer has the most demanding role as Evan and he did an excellent job on opening night. He was on stage for most of the show and handled his part with ease.

His geeky new found  geeky friends Patrice played by Meg Jinnette of Dalyston, delighted the audience with her sweet singing and Archie the disabled student played by Nick Lawson from Inverloch.

Nick was unreal; he almost stole the show on opening night! He moved the audience from sadness to laughter as he struggled through the show on his crutches, delivering his funny lines with perfect diction and thrilled all with his strong singing. Top job Nick!

Another standout was Wonthaggi’s Ellie McConnell as the tough talking, conniving Lucy, she looked stunning, and her singing was amazing. Wow, big future in store for this bombshell.

Hats off to Leongatha’s Janie Gordon as the beautiful sweet heart Kendra and Inverloch’s Fergus McKittrick as tough guy Brett and to the boys all singing, all dancing quartet, Leongatha’s Stephen Loftus as Eddie, Noah Lugt -Cole of Bass as Malcolm, Arawata’s Kieran Lewis as Richie and Leongatha South’s Tom Baker as Simon, these boys were a laugh and brought brightness and humour to the show.

Not forgetting all the cheer leaders, the rest of the chorus and three cheers for the fabulous musicians.

Sets were colourful and creative, the work of Tad Hendry, set designer,  lighting was innovative with a clever use of multicoloured spotlights to designate rooms, well done to Trevor Wyhoon and Ewan Cole and  Lousie Adkins did a great job with the many costumes required.

A big pat on the back for director Karen Milkens Hendry, many of the cast members said you were just a dream to work with, musical directors, Kirk Skinner and Leigh Owens have worked their magic and to the bright and bubbly choreographer Bron Kalos got the best out of her dancers

This show is a lot of fun; a musical for kids both young and old.

13 continues at the Wonthaggi Union Community Arts Centre this weekend and runs through until June 8 and tickets are on sale Wonthaggi Workmens Club. Phone 5672 1083

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Posted by Matt Dunn on May 28 2013. Filed under Arts & Entertainment, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry